Running Interference
by BadMomma
Summary: Heero and Relena need Duo's assistance to mediate a slight misunderstanding. In the 'You Just Never Know' afteruniverse.


**Running Interference**

From the _You Just Never Know_ Universe; kind of a back story (another one)

Friend-fic, no pairings, After-Series, c.AC200.

Characters/Participants: Heero, Duo, Relena

"How long are you going to skulk around back there?"

A rustle of fabric and foliage was the only answer he got.

"You can't hide from your own guests all night."

"I'm not hiding!" came the whispered response.

He lowered his voice, almost a match to hers. "Then what would you call what you're doing?"

"I'm just watching." She couldn't contain the hint of teasing in her answer.

"Interesting," he smirked, "I don't recall seeing your name on the evening's duty roster when I checked this afternoon."

"Like you're one to talk!" This time she snickered outright. "I don't see you out there mingling. Looks to me like you're just watching too."

He turned his body only slightly and pursed his lips, eyes locking onto her position as if he could see right through the high hedges to where she was standing.

"I'm not the one who's been hiding behind the bushes for the past twenty minutes. I think it's time you came out from behind there. Or do you think no one will notice your absence?"

"I doubt anyone has noticed. No one's raised the red flag yet."

She thought she heard him mumble some reply, but 'Says you' was not exactly his style. If it had been their mutual friend and constant companion sitting there she wouldn't have doubted the response at all.

"Give me just a few more minutes. I don't feel like dealing with them right now."

He chuckled quietly and turned back to face the crowd that was milling about in the gardens. In his mind's eye he pictured her as a little girl, dressed in a fancy party dress with ruffles and lace - and lots and lots of pink! - huffing quietly and stomping her foot. It made him grin unrepentantly. "Come on," he coaxed, patting the empty stretch of bench next to him, "come sit with me."

When she didn't react he turned toward her again, unerringly pinning her with his gaze. "Now Relena" he stated firmly, raising a challenging eyebrow.

This time, he did hear her huff out a breath and audibly tracked her progress to the pass-through in the greenery. He only barely managed to suppress the grin. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her emerge and walk toward him, head held defiantly high. She looked as lovely as ever; dressed in a charcoal-grey slip dress that hung to the middle of her claves; it hugged her figure without being too tight or too sensual. She stopped just a foot away from him but didn't sit immediately. The look on her face clearly said she was not happy to have been forced out into the open again.

He ignored it and made a grab for her hand. Tugging gently, he urged her onto the bench. "Sit down," he chided.

She harrumphed but did as she was told, smoothing down the back of her dress while slanting a disgruntled look in his direction. "I don't see why I couldn't just take a break from this stupid event. It wasn't even my idea. And you're not working tonight so you can do as you please. But not me, oh no, heaven forbid! Miss Relena has to meet and greet. Miss Relena has to mingle with all the self-important guests. Miss Relena has to listen to the undersecretaries of undersecretaries rattle on about the great work their boss's bosses are doing. And wouldn't it be wonderful if Miss Relena publicly supported their cause, nomination, organization, blah, blah, blah. I have to literally be dragged away from their clutches just to get a moment to myself."

"Hors d'oeuvre?" He ignored her tantrum, instead offering her a snack from the plate that had sat untouched at his side for a while. It was enough to catch her off guard.

She snickered, and when he didn't retract the plate, she laughed softly with him, picking a morsel from it and humming appreciatively. "Mmm, either this is very delicious or I'm starving! I think I haven't eaten anything since early this afternoon."

He set the plate down and smiled at her. "Go ahead; I'm not going to eat any more of it."

"You sure?" When he nodded, she picked up another piece. Before taking a third one she looked up at him, "Heero, you don't eat pate, right?"

"Nope."

"Then why did you serve yourself some."

He grinned but didn't look at her. "I didn't."

Before she could ask who, how or why, he motioned to one end of the crowd with his chin. There stood Duo, as handsome as always, engaged in an intense conversation with a young woman. She couldn't remember the girl's name, but remembered her to be from one of the youth action groups the event was sponsored for.

"Ah!" She smiled widely.

He snickered before answering quietly. "Aa".

She laughed with him. It was how she'd expected him to reply, his frequent use of the Japanese term of agreement had confused her at first, but it had long become a joke between them.

They sat quietly for a few minutes, she stealing glances over her shoulder at the crowd and he just taking it all in, their attention occasionally returning to hover on their friend.

"He seems to be having fun," she ventured after seeing him laugh heartily at something the girl had said.

"I guess," he replied, shrugging and watching his friend for a moment.

"So why aren't you out there mingling?"

"Because, right now, I'm here mingling with you." He smiled again, trying not to be obvious about it. She was always urging him to be more social, but it just wasn't his thing.

She snorted in a most unladylike manner, inched closer to him and spoke quietly at his shoulder. "You are so full of it. You'd already been sitting here for a while when I made good on my escape."

He didn't bother containing his laughter. It was so typical of her to call him on what she deemed inappropriate behavior, regardless of the fact that her own behavior had been no less appropriate. And then he remembered something he'd meant to ask her.

Crossing his left leg over his right knee he turned toward her, leaning into her slightly. "By the way, have you and McKenzie worked out some secret code between you?"

She cocked her head at him. "What?"

"McKenzie. Twice tonight, he's mysteriously appeared to whisk you away from a rather boring conversation with some made-up excuse about you being needed elsewhere."

"They were not 'made-up excuses', I /was/ needed elsewhere. There were perfectly valid reasons for him to come get me… Hey, how did you know?" She leaned back slightly and regarded him warily before her eyes grew wide with realization. "You're wired!"

He nodded just once in response. "Always."

"You're not supposed to be! I made sure you had the night off. Both of you!" She flicked her head in Duo's general direction. "You're a hopeless cause, Heero," she huffed. "You really should take some lessons from Duo. He knows what to do when he has the night off."

He shrugged with indifference.

"I bet he's not wired tonight!" She turned slightly in her seat to look at their friend again. Heero followed her gaze and hesitated only a moment before responding.

He smirked, "You'd lose that bet." He caught her look of disbelief out of the corner of his eyes.

She turned and stared at him for a full minute, refusing to back down. The challenge to his statement made clear in her countenance.

Deciding it was time he prove his point and figuring he'd put duty off long enough, he reached with his right hand to the left sleeve of his jacket. He tucked his chin close to his chest and began to speak softly. "Yuy. Reporting." He paused briefly to allow for an acknowledgement.

She rolled her eyes, mumbling 'completely hopeless' under her breath.

"Confirmed. She's with me." Another pause. "Section: G-4." A pause again. "Status: Green." Another, longer, pause and then finally, "Confirmed. Out."

His eyes settled on her only a moment before locking intently on something else. She followed his line of sight to see what had caught his interest. It was Duo. Her gaze was drawn to one of Duo's hands, which had previously been tucked away in his pants pocket. It was now moving against the outside of his thigh, his fingers making strange patterns that appeared to her to be a nervous habit until they stopped suddenly, splayed against his thigh. When she looked up at his face, she found a lazy smile directed back at them, though his eyes only flicked toward them once.

Heero barked out a laugh that drew her attention to him, but before she could speak the questions in her mind, she realized that he too was tapping an animated pattern on his knee, much like Duo had. She watched his hand until it came to rest, fingers splayed and still against his leg. A quick look at his face confirmed that he was still watching Duo. He chuckled again, quickly tapping a single finger and then a closed fist against his knee before dropping his hand back to the bench.

He then leaned into her, whispering, "He recommends you not get lost again. Says you'll be the death of Harrison."

She gaped at him before quickly turning back to Duo, hoping that she could somehow tell if Heero was just teasing her. Duo had tucked his previously active hand under this other arm, his attention firmly back on the young woman conversing with him.

When she turned back to Heero, he was not looking at her, but she could tell he was trying very hard to suppress a smirk. "Fine!" she huffed, trying to keep the amusement out of her voice, "I was wrong." She paused for effect: "You're _both_ hopeless! See if I bother trying to get either of you off the roster for the next one." She had to turn her face away as soon as she finished speaking because if she hadn't, she'd have given in to the laugh bubbling up inside her.

It took both of them a few minutes to calm down enough that they could look at each other without cracking a grin. When she caught herself idly playing with the hem of his jacket, she leaned in and gently brushed his shoulder.

"Thank you for not turning me in right away."

"No problem. You deserved a break." He returned the shoulder-brush. "Besides, I may not be as…" he pretended to struggle for the right word before continuing "/entertaining/ as McKenzie, but I figured I could back him up as your distraction for a while. He got pulled to cover the main entrance. Did he tell you that was why he had to run off?"

"No, he didn't say. But it's not like I expected him to baby-sit me all evening."

"You know he wouldn't really mind, don't you? And he definitely wouldn't consider it baby-sitting."

She narrowed his eyes at him. "Not you too? I have enough with Duo's insinuations; I don't need you jumping on that band wagon, Heero."

He shrugged. "I happen to think Duo's right on this one. McKenzie's a nice guy and he does seem interested in you. In more than a professional capacity, I mean."

She groaned and rolled her eyes at him. "God Heero, not tonight. Pick another topic, will you." She waved a hand between them, as if too tired to keep up the conversation.

She thought to use some sort of teasing to distract him. Anything to get off the topic of McKenzie. The young man in question was nice and she enjoyed his company, but she wasn't sure she was ready to 'hook up' just yet. When she turned back toward her companion, though, all thoughts of teasing fled.

Heero was sitting as stiff as a board, eyes locked in a calculating stare. Though his gaze had probably wandered over all the guests at some point that evening, there was only one other person who could engender such a possessively protective stare.

As discreetly as she could, she turned her gaze back to Duo but could not find what would cause Heero such alarm. She moved her gaze over their friend's surroundings after quickly confirming that was where Heero was looking. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and while it would not surprise her that he'd be more attuned to possible danger, she was at somewhat of a loss.

"Heero," she asked quietly. "What is it?"

"Do you have any idea who that man is?"

Since he was clearly not showing any discretion, she put hers aside as well and turned as much as she could on the bench to get the best view possible.

"The man talking to Duo?"

"Mn." He gave her a terse nod.

"Yes, I know who he is. He was invited."

Finally, he turned his eyes to her, but it was not a pleasant look.

"You invited Tom Warren, one of the most notorious White Fang Recruiters ever, to your charity event? The number-two man in charge of their disinformation campaign against Oz and the Treize faction?"

"No, I didn't."

"Yes, Relena, you did."

She could hear in his voice that he was not happy with her presumed oversight. It was the same tone he took when reading someone the riot act for what he believed to be a blatant disregard of security protocols.

"Relena, that man is responsible for the recruitment of minors on Colonies L2 and L3. He went out into the streets, into school yards and playgrounds, and recruited children!" His eyes were boring a hole through her with the statement. He had yet to raise his voice but there was no mistaking the animosity. "Children, Relena! That man endangered their lives by making them couriers for the White Fang cells. They ran messages between the hideouts. They put up flyers and declarations for White Fang, denouncing Oz, the Alliance, the Treize Faction. Defying anyone they cared to. He" - he pointed an accusing finger directly at the man - "brought children into the war. I thought this event was to benefit the same children who were victims of the war that man involved them in."

"Heero…"

"I don't remember seeing his name on the attendee list. Who the hell's working the front door?"

She grabbed his wrist before he could activate the com-link.

"It's alright, Heero, no one's made a mistake."

"Alright? Relena, that man was not on the guest list!"

"Actually he was. It was a private invitation, made at the last minute as a special request."

"You – You really invited him?" Disbelief was clearly written all over his face.

She hadn't thought he'd react this way; she hadn't even anticipated that he'd know Tom Warren, but it seemed she would have to do a little explaining, if for no other reason than to get him to calm down. If he resisted her any more than he was already, she was likely to end up dangling from his wrist, flat on her back on the other side of the bench. It was a miracle that her touch had kept him still as long as it had.

"Listen to me, Heero; you need to calm down and hear me out. Tom Warren is no longer a part of White Fang. There is no White Fang anymore. I was asked by one of the other attendees to invite him so they could talk." She paused to gather her thoughts. She didn't want to divulge too much information without first explaining precisely what was happening, but that might lead to-

"Does he know?"

"What?"

"Duo. Does he know who he's talking to."

"Yes. He does."

"Does he really know who that man is?"

"Was."

"What?"

" 'Who that man was', Heero. Past tense. He doesn't recruit children for White Fang anymore. As a matter of fact he's… making up for it. He helps run a nonprofit organization called Youth Now. It's a politically active group that's trying to improve living conditions and establish child advocacy groups in the poorer colonies. He works mainly within the L2 system."

"On L2? Duo's colony?"

She nodded and watched his eyes flick between her and Duo. It was clear that he was not happy with this turn of events, but if she could just get him to…

"Heero, do you know what the age of consent is on most colonies nowadays?"

He blinked and looked back at her. "Seventeen, I think. Although Wufei says that his colony wants to reinstate their original age of fifteen. The New L5 Council thinks they should return to the older traditions and that was one of them."

"Yes. And although there is some resistance to the proposal, even within the L5 Council, I've heard the same thing."

"But what does tha-"

"Do you know what the age is on L2?"

"No. I imagine Duo does?"

"Oh yes, he knows quite well what it is. He's done quite a bit of research on the subject. He's even made sizable donations to some children's charities, written letters and signed petitions to the governing boards throughout the colony cluster."

"I knew he'd made some donations, and that he holds dual residency, both here and L2. He told me he wanted to make sure at least one person with half a brain was voting for the right things there. But I had no idea he was that involved."

"Mmm, the age of consent laws are one of his hot buttons. He's never told you this?"

"No. We don't… we don't usually talk about those things, about our pasts or life on those colonies, much. I always thought that when he left, he'd left it behind. They're not really great memories for him."

"I know."

"So what is it?"

She lifted an inquiring eyebrow at him.

"The age on L2?"

"Oh. Thirteen for the most part, but there are still plenty of cases where the age is listed as ten."

"Ten? But… that's illegal! Even thirteen is too much of a stretch. It's supposed to be near impossible to grant consent to anyone under fifteen."

"Yes, but this is L2 we're talking about. They've been the slowest to implement almost all the Child Protection reforms. Most the colonies in that cluster are still ranked among the poorest across the spectrum. It's all directly related to the high incidence of illicit activities. Between the black market trade and the lingering corruption in governmental agencies, a lot of the reforms are either tabled indefinitely or rejected outright. The governing boards either claim they don't have the money to implement the reforms or that they can't raise the taxes because their constituents are too low income. And the people are either too poor to care or too busy making ends meet to really get involved."

"I understand all of that, but ten? Most ten year olds aren't even responsible enough to be left alone at home for the night. How can Social Services justify something like that?"

"Corruption, plain and simple. The laws are on the books; have been for many years. Because of the high incidence of homeless, orphaned and neglected children in the late seventies and early eighties, L2's Services bureaus began loosening the restrictions on what it took to justify a deviation in the legal age. It was easier for them and less costly if they simply granted consent. That way Social Services wouldn't be required to keep track of the child or provide them a residence. It relieved them of the responsibility of having to make sure the children were in school, being fed and being well treated."

"And what does Warren have to do with all this?"

Relena smiled; she knew the distraction would only work for so long. She'd never known Heero to lose his focus so easily.

"He's trying to change that. Youth Now's main focus on L2 is to establish enough child advocacy groups to handle the cases and to subsidize enough educational grants and halfway houses to provide somewhere for those children to go. Their staff has been working on a database to catalog the cases for the past few years and they've been working with reputable organizations associated with existing group homes. A good deal of money has been raised already, but to implement the next phase of their plan they're going to need a lot more."

"And?" His skepticism was clear in his tone.

"And before they can get more money, they're going to require more name recognition."

"That's why he's here."

"Precisely."

He paused to think that over before asking his next question. The one she knew would come eventually. "And that's why Duo's talking to him?"

"Yes."

"He asked for Warren to be invited?" When she hesitated, he looked at her sharply. "Relena?"

"Duo didn't exactly ask me to invite him."

"But you said your guest, and I assume you meant Duo, asked you to invite him."

"Well, yes, but it wasn't his idea."

"Relena, you're giving me a headache. Warren wasn't on the guest list - not any of the ones I saw. So Duo must have specifically asked you to invite him. How can that not be his idea?"

"Because he… approved Warren's attendance more than requested it."

"Approved it?"

She nodded.

"Warren asked to meet with Duo?"

She nodded again.

"So he wants Duo to be his 'name recognition'? Because Duo's on your security staff? Because he's one of your 'bodyguards'?"

"No. It has nothing to do with me, actually." She knew this is where it could get really sticky.

"Then why else would he be asking for Duo in partic…" He turned to her sharply. "Because he was… a pilot?" The last word came out nearly a whisper.

Frowning slightly, she nodded once.

As his eyes continued to flick between her and their friend, she saw the anger begin to drain away. And then she saw it be replaced with fear and concern.

"I don't understand. How could he know? How could that happen? Our records are supposed to be sealed." He turned his gaze to her sharply. "Do the others know? Does everyone know who we are?"

She took his nearest hand up in both of hers, trying to soothe him. "Relax Heero. Let me explain?" When he nodded his agreement she continued.

"You remember the nondisclosure agreement you signed after the coup attempt, right? Well, they were written in a way that guaranteed that the government would not make your names and records public as long as you didn't either, but also so that the government, a special council of the Preventers in particular, could defend against false claims. So that anyone claiming to be any of the famed Gundam pilots could be brought up on charges of fraud. That's why they took blood, hair and skin samples: so they could prove your identities without exposing you.

"I remember. I hadn't thought about why they did it. I just assumed they were afraid one of us would go rogue and they'd need proof of who we were." He shrugged, shaking his head slightly. "I was so used to donating /samples/ to the doctors, I didn't really give it any thought."

She patted his hand reassuringly and snickered, which caused him to raise an eyebrow in question. "That's so typically you, Heero. Just do what you need to do to get what you want."

"It didn't cost me anything. And I had nothing to lose." He shrugged again. "What's a little hair and blood when you've already donated more than your pound of flesh?"

She slapped at him playfully. "How cynical!" When all he did was roll his eyes, she leaned into him and whispered, "Just teasing."

"So, what does this have to do with Duo and Warren?"

"Well, in addition to making sure you weren't hounded because of your war-time exploits, Lady Une wanted to be able to protect you."

"Protect us? From what?"

"Well, basically from people trying to make money off of your fame. You see, about two months after the conflict, the first of many petitions was brought before the Senate requesting the release of information surrounding the pilots by an organization that wanted to contact one of you. Since the Senate had approved the nondisclosure agreements, they rejected the request outright. But the petitioners starting making their rounds and eventually found their way to the door of Lady Une's office."

"Who?" he interrupted.

"Hm? Oh! Wufei. They wanted to speak to Wufei. They were elders from the new L5 Council. Anyhow, Une repeatedly explained to them about the agreement but they insisted that /Pilot 05/ had the right to hear out their petition and be the one to decide if their request had merit. Eventually it was decided that anyone requesting contact with the pilots would go through an application process. All requests are received directly by Preventers and reviewed on a case by case basis. The application is submitted, the applicants investigated and the request weighed against the terms of the agreement with the individual pilot. If the request doesn't violate the terms of the agreement, Lady forwards the information to whichever one of you is being sought. Then it's up to each of you to decide whether to accept the contact or not."

Quickly reviewing everything she had said, Relena felt satisfied she'd touched on all the important details.

Heero's eyes swung back to Duo and Warren. "So Warren submitted an application to meet with the pilot from L2?"

She followed his gaze. "Mmhm."

"And Duo agreed to talk to him."

She nodded, "After reading the proposal and doing a little research of his own. Yes."

He shook his head minutely. "And just like that he's going to give up his anonymity."

"What do you mean, Heero?"

"Well, you said he accepted the offer to meet with Warren. Now someone knows and pretty soon it'll be all over the Earth Sphere. Everyone'll know he was Pilot 02."

"No, not at all! Warren, and anyone he shares Duo's identity with, is bound by a very strict nondisclosure agreement as well. As a matter of fact, the agreement is quite strict even about who he can share the information with. There are very strong penalties should he breach any of the terms of the agreement."

"You're living in a fantasy if you truly believe the information won't get out. All the man has to do is mention it to his wife or girlfriend or best friend, and then the whole of the universe will know."

She watched him warily. "The whole universe doesn't know yet."

"Aa, but it's just a matter of time. The night is…" He suddenly looked up at her sharply.

Their eyes locked and she saw the realization as it hit him.

"This is not the first time?"

She pursed her lips and shook her head slightly.

"When-?"

"The first one was just over a year ago. He's only accepted a very small fraction of them, but from what Lady has told me, he's been the most responsive. And he is the one that gets the most requests."

He looked down, gazing intently at the ground. "The most responsive," he whispered. "So the others…" He looked up at her then, "The others, they've accepted requests too?"

"Mmhm."

"I had no idea."

He looked askance at her and she turned away. She was uncomfortable with what she knew must be on his mind: that his friends, comrades, brothers, had all been picking through the requests that had come in for them. His closest friend had accepted the first of many just over a year before. And yet he'd never seen a single request. He knew nothing. About any of it.

"Relena, don't- Do I- I don't even know if I want to know."

"You were very clear, Heero, very specific about what you expected in return for signing the agreement. And when Une approached you, during the development of the application process, you were very adamant about what you did not wish to be involved with. So much so that Lady never asked you to fill out the questionnaire that was developed. There hasn't been a request that's come in for you, for Pilot 01, that's even come close to… not violating your criteria. They've all been way out of scope."

"So I do get them? Well, not me personally, but they do come in? For Pilot 01?"

She nodded.

"And what's so different about mine that I've never seen any and yet the others -" He hesitated, "All of them? Trowa and Quatre, too?"

She nodded again.

"They've all had requests that met their criteria? And they've all accepted some kind of contact?"

"Yes."

He sat and thought it through. Was he so different from the rest of them? What had he said, and when had these conversations taken place? He couldn't recall ever being approached specifically with the question of whether he would field any requests that would lead to his identity being known by someone who didn't already know it. But then again, for a long time after the coup attempt had been squashed, he doubted that he had been agreeable to much of anything. He slumped a little, staring intently at his hands in his lap.

"I was tired… weary, back then."

"I remember."

"I didn't want to fight. To kill. To be associated with the business of war."

"I know."

"Are… Were my… statements, my criteria, that much more… exigent?"

"Heero, please," she soothed. It pained her that he was clearly struggling with this. "From what I understand, you all rejected a base group of similar things. No commercial gain, no outright political support, no military propaganda; things like that. But it all hinges on the types of requests that are received.

"Duo, or rather Pilot 02, represented a very poor colony cluster during the wars. A lot of the requests that get through to him are completely not in the scope of what he dictated. Most of them come from people who are looking to improve the standard of living in the colony, be it better education, higher wages, pollution control, or construction standards."

She paused to think through the counter-point, to make it so that he wouldn't feel that she believed him to be unconcerned with these things. To make it clear that it wasn't just what he'd said, but also what was received, that led to his never being approached.

"I'm sure you realize that, financially speaking, your colony was much more balanced. Not that there might not be poverty or social unrest of any kind, but on the whole, L1 has been prosperous for years. Unlike L2, and in some cases even L3, L1 has quickly and successfully implemented most of the reforms and initiatives that have passed the Senate. If people don't submit a request, there's nothing for us to forward to you."

"How many applications are submitted annually?"

"For you?"

He nodded once.

"On average, less than ten."

"And Duo?"

"About thirty, I think. I'm not sure."

"And for the others?"

"That I don't know."

This statement made him look directly at her. She knew she would probably have to admit to the one piece of information that she had most hoped to avoid.

"How come?"

"I don't see them; don't get a report on them."

"But you see mine and Duo's. Because we work for you?"

"Not exactly. Duo shows me his."

"He shows you?"

"Yes. Or he tells me about them."

"So if he sees thirty, then there must be more coming in than what actually gets through to him. How many must he get a year?"

"That's not the way it works, Heero, but does it really matter?"

She desperately wanted a way to derail this conversation. She knew what it would come down to and she was pretty sure that he would not want to hear it. She knew she didn't want to have to tell him. It would probably hurt him. Not physically, but definitely hurt his pride. She'd just never had the stomach to change it. It probably would have hurt him more if she had.

"What aren't you telling me?"

She shrugged. Almost, she wished he'd start harping on Tom Warren again, but it was a fleeting thought.

He turned his attention away from her, looking back into the milling crowd and instantly became tense again. Apparently Duo was not where Heero expected him to be.

Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe he'd let it go. When she saw him reach for his cuff, she knew her hopes were in vain. She watched him fiddle with the communication device for a few minutes without speaking.

"Yuy. Queue request." He waited patiently. "Maxwell. Private channel meet." There was another pause, much shorter this time, and finally he nodded. "Confirmed. Yuy out."

She watched him fiddle with the link again for only a moment. He appeared to be concentrating, a small wrinkle appearing between his brows. Maybe he was listening to the radio chatter. Suddenly, his face relaxed, and while it was obvious he was still concentrating, the wrinkle had disappeared. He cocked his head twice, looking like he was about to speak, but both times he hesitated. The second time, smiling slightly.

"Duo." His voice was almost a whisper. "Where are you and who are you talking to?"

He concentrated for a few seconds and then smiled.

"Roger that. G-4 as soon as you can, please."

He cocked his head to the side for about a minute, the wrinkle making a brief reappearance again, before breaking into another small smile.

"Acknowledged. If she doesn't let you go in two, signal me again; I'll send extraction. On this channel."

He closed his eyes and appeared to be concentrating.

After about a minute of silence, she ventured a quiet "Heero?"

Without even looking, he held up a finger asking her to wait. Not long after, he opened his eyes and searched the crowd.

"Nicely done. Where are you?"

Almost immediately, his eyes darted to a new position and he was once again watching intently.

"She's still with me." His smile drooped infinitesimally as he flicked a glance in her direction. "Just come. I'm out."

She watched him fiddle with the link again, report that both he and Duo were back on the main channel, and finally release the link entirely. His eyes darted back to the same spot in the crowd.

"Heero."

He ignored her. He was angry with her and he wouldn't budge until Duo arrived. Sometimes she wondered how they'd ever gotten along as well as they did before Duo had gotten there.

She knew as soon as Duo cleared the crowd; she even knew he had arrived long before his hand settled on her back. Not because he'd made any obvious noise, but by watching Heero's body language. She couldn't help but wonder what affect it would have on Heero if he ever figured out how easily she could read him when Duo was involved.

"Hey, gorgeous." The new arrival ran his hand down her back to her waist as he crouched between them and the crowd beyond.

Duo's other hand came to rest on Heero's knee, ostensibly to keep him balanced in that crouched position. But she knew damn well that he could stay like that for a long time without needing anything to steady him physically. It was an entirely different kind of 'steadying' that made him seek Heero out.

He cocked his head at Heero, "You rang?"

Heero nodded once, succinctly.

Duo nodded in return.

"I have questions."

"Ask."

"Warren's proposal?"

"Undecided."

"It has merit?"

A nod.

"You trust him?"

"The system."

She tuned them out. She hated it when they had these shorthand conversations. It was expedient, they'd been doing it for years, and she knew it gave them a certain amount of comfort or security to engage in them. They still did it frequently enough, and knew each other well enough, that they didn't feel the need to bog themselves down with too many words. But sometimes the speed of the conversations left her lagging a few steps behind. She usually found it more beneficial to ignore the conversation until they needed her to participate. At that point, they would slow down and speak in full sentences.

"Relena." They both called her name.

"Are you done now? Ready for me?"

Duo answered with a rueful chuckle and rubbed at her back. Heero nodded tersely. They both knew she didn't like the shorthand and if they were involving her, then the rules would have to change.

"What's going on Lena? Heero says that you've been keeping things from him. I think he thinks I'm in on some conspiracy to deprive him of his rightful visits with the sycophants."

"I said no such thing!" Duo shot him an exasperated look, which Heero answered with a snort. "You invented the second part. I just want to know why I'm the only one who's being treated differently."

Relena looked away, she didn't want to have this conversation.

"Differently how? Than what, Heero?"

"All the applications for contact with Pilot 02 are reported to you, regardless of whether you accept them or not. Correct?"

"Yeah. The committee checks them all first, determines which ones are rejects, and then Une sends them to me for final approval. I get to decide if I want to pursue any of the ones that aren't in the reject pile."

"But you see all of them?"

"Well, I get a summary report on the rejects. None of us wanna have to read through the crap we know we're gonna decline. Come to think of it, I'm not exactly sure how Trowa and Quatre get theirs, 'cause we never really talk about it. But I know Wufei and I get the same thing; he happened to be reviewing his report one day when I stopped at his office. Why, what do you get?"

"Tell him," Heero barked at her.

Duo looked at Relena, but she refused to make eye contact. He turned back to Heero.

"What? What am I missing?"

Heero only stared harder at Relena, as if he could make her talk by just looking at her.

Duo's amused confusion became laced with concern. "We need to fill Duo in on what's going on here, kids."

Ultimately, Heero might have been right about his method of coercion. After a lengthy silence, she turned her back on both of them. "I had my reasons!"

They were both visibly upset and Duo was starting to wonder if he'd ever find out exactly what was going on.

After more stilted silence, he decided it would be best to take this discussion elsewhere. "OK, time to relocate, kids." He stood and attempted to pull them both up after him. They resisted. "Children."

Heero bristled. "I don't want to be handled!"

The vehemence surprised Duo. He crouched again, only this time he was directly in front of Heero, a hand on each knee.

"Heero, nobody's handling you." He jostled Heero's legs back and forth a little, as if to physically contradict his words. "I'm asking both of you to come with me to a more private - secure if you will - location where we can freely discuss whatever is upsetting you."

"I'm not upset!" they answered in tandem, each turning slightly away from the other after hissing the response. To this, Duo could only raise an eyebrow.

He let out a long, slow breath and wondered just what his two closest friends were so out of sorts about. It obviously had something to do with the requests for contact, but for the life of him he couldn't see what would be so upsetting. Since neither of them appeared the least bit interested in telling him at the moment – as evidenced by their continued silence – he resigned himself to reviewing the bit of conversation that had taken place since his arrival. After careful consideration, and in light of Heero's second to last statement, he reiterated his last question on the subject. "Heero, how do you get your requests?"

"I don't," was the stilted answer.

"You don't get any requests?" Heero shook his head minutely, but didn't speak; it looked like he was choking on something. "So what makes you think you're being handled any differently than the rest of us? If you're not getting any requests, then there's nothing to report."

His comrade stiffened, "Because I am!" Heero choked back a few choice words before finally continuing in a very low voice. "Apparently/Pilot 01/ has been getting about ten requests a year, for who knows how long, but I've never seen a single one." He shot a withering glare at Relena, before turning his eyes back to Duo and then away completely.

This gave Duo pause. What? Was Relena running interference for Heero? Is that what this was all about? And if so, why would she do that? Why was she even involved? As far as he knew, the rest of the guys got their information directly from the Commander.

Obviously, Heero had said all he was going to on the matter, at least for now. If Duo was going to get any more answers… He turned to Relena, hoping to get some sort of explanation. She had said she'd had her reasons.

He rubbed her back gently, letting her know the ball was in her court. When she didn't respond, he prompted: "Lena, wanna tell me what's going on? I can't help if I don't know. Why – if what Heero says is true – didn't he see any of the requests?" When still she didn't answer, he pressed her. "Lena, honey, you need to talk to me. I don't even understand why you're involved in this at all. What do you have to do with it?"

Finally, she answered. It was quietly spoken, but it explained a lot. "I asked Lady Une to filter them through me."

He could feel the tension rise in Heero through his hand still on the man's leg. "Why, honey? Why would you do that?"

Her hands moved to grip the edge of the bench, tensing and releasing ever so slightly. "Because he wouldn't - I didn't think-" She was struggling to get it out. "Because, at first, he wasn't in any condition to-"

"Oh please!" came from the other corner and Duo had to hold the heavy sigh in. "You think I couldn't handle it? You think I wasn't capable of reading the reports and deciding for myself?" The words were low and venomous, but Duo thought that, maybe, there was also a hint of hurt in them, too. "Did you think me that… that… fragile? That inept? Unprepared?"

Heero made a move to rise, but Duo pushed down on his thigh. When it looked like Heero was going to ignore him, Duo tightened his grip to get the man's attention. Mouthing a hostile 'Sit down!', he returned his friend's glare until it was clear that no one was going anywhere.

"Lena, honey?" When she didn't react, he tapped her on the back, "Precious, I need you to look at me." She turned slightly, making eye contact with him, but clearly avoiding looking at their friend. "I'm sure you meant well, but Heero's a big boy." There was a disgruntled huff from his right, which precipitated another squeeze of the flesh beneath his hand. The action was not lost on her. "I just think we need to understand why you felt the need to keep it from him. You should have given him the chance to decide on his own. I don't know what you and the Commander were thinking but it wasn't right to take that decision away from him."

"It wasn't her; it was me." She turned away from them slightly, flicking a look in Heero's direction that couldn't have risen past his chest. Quietly, she continued, almost reluctant, but adamant in taking full blame.

It seemed that among the very first requests for access to Pilot 01 were two requests from medical/academic/research groups, asking if the Pilot of the Wing Zero would consider submitting himself for various forms of 'testing'. Both groups had discovered the nature of the psy-interfaces that inhabited the Wing Zero and the Epyon, and while not being privy to the workings of the systems themselves, the groups were very interested in studying the long and short term effects on the pilot to compare it to other related medical applications. The applicants had gone to great lengths in their request to describe the kinds of testing and the lengthy timelines they had in mind. Relena had accidentally crossed paths with Commander Une on the fateful day the second request had been received. The woman had been furious at the audacity - at what she termed the inhumanity - of the requests, both having arrived within days of each other.

While Heero had never specifically made any statements on the matter, they all had a good idea about why he did not readily speak of his time with Dr. J and why he pointedly avoided discussions on the nature of the Zero System. He and Zechs had been the only ones to ever pilot both the suits equipped with the psy-interface. While Heero had apparently learned to master Wing's Zero System, it was obvious that his experience with Epyon had left non-physical scars.

Being that the committee had still been in the midst of establishing the processes by which the requests would be forwarded to the former pilots, and to hear Relena tell it, the Commander had been distraught over how to approach Heero with the information. That was when Relena had asked to have all the requests funneled through her. She admitted that, without actually saying so, she had left the Commander with the impression that she would share the information with the intended recipient; she had all but said that she would be the one to soften the blow. Relena was not stupid, though, she had known the affect it would have on her friend. At the time, and aside from the man himself, she was probably the one most closely guarding his psyche.

"I'm… I'm sorry, Heero. I just couldn't bring myself to… to expose you to that. To let someone hurt you. Like that. You didn't deserve it. And then I was afraid that if you started getting the reports, you'd begin to expect them. And then what could I do if another request like that came in? There would be no way to remove it from the report." She stood gracefully, smoothing out the front of her skirt. "You were hurt and tired, and maybe not a little lost. I couldn't…" She put a hand on his shoulder. "I regret that I hurt you without meaning to, Heero, and for that I /am/ sorry, but I will not apologize for doing what I thought was right. Excuse me." She hurried away, quietly and discreetly, heading for the staff entrance to the main building.

After loosing sight of her, Duo pulled himself up onto the bench next to Heero. He moved the empty plate out from between them and shifted a little closer, quietly commenting, "Well, that didn't go quite as I'd expected."

Beside him, Heero shifted; crossing his legs and his arms. "Hm."

"No," Duo mimicked Heero's position after dusting imaginary lint from his pants; "Didn't think you'd expected that either." When there was no further reaction after another minute or so, he stood. "Right. Well." He turned his back on the crowd and studied his watch. "This shindig's about to wrap up. What say you: shall we head out now?" Then, without waiting for an answer, he activated his com-link and requested contact with the head security officer for the evening.

"Maxwell, here. Yuy and I booking out for the night." He listened to the response with a slow smile lighting his face. "Right, but official or not, we were here, so just letting you know. Oh and the boss-lady's just headed up to the office." He cocked an eyebrow, "Oh yeah?" The smile faltered slightly. "Right. Must've been girl stuff then, huh? I'm sure she's fine, but we'll check on her on our way." He nodded a few times and then finally signed off.

When he looked down at his friend, Heero hadn't moved. He tapped the man on the shoulder. "Let's go, buddy."

"I can't."

"You can't? Why? D'your ass fall asleep? For all you've been sitting on that bench tonight, it wouldn't surprise me one bit. But being as you've got buns of steel, I figure you can fake it just fine 'til we get inside."

Heero mumbled a response he didn't catch.

"Speak up, man; I didn't hear what you said."

Heero finally looked up at him and he had to repress another sigh.

"Oh, for crying out loud!" He sat himself again, even closer than he had before. "She didn't mean to hurt you and you didn't mean to hurt her, but what's done is done and now we need to forgive and forget. Let's just go up to our rooms, get out of these monkey suits and into our favorite PJs, hunt up some hot chocolate and go make nice with her. OK?"

"Not now, not… yet."

Despite the quiet, almost hesitant, response, Duo kept his tone level and conversational. "Wrong, Yuy. Yes now and yes yet. It does neither of you any good to sit in your respective spots and beat yourselves up. I can understand how you feel, but… to be honest? If I were in her shoes, I probably would've done the same. That shit's not right, Heero, and - procedures and regulations aside – requests like that should just get tossed. If the committee can't see that and thinks it's OK to send them through, then there's something wrong with them."

"I still should have known. I just wish she didn't make me feel like-"

Duo slapped him on the nearest arm. "Oh don't be a drama queen, dude. You're just mad that you got pissed off at her for something that now you know you shouldn't have. Look, maybe the two of you just need to sit down and go over some of what's been rejected – whether by her or the review committee. Maybe there's stuff on there that you wouldn't be completely opposed to and maybe not. Or maybe you just need to get in touch with the Commander and ask her for that form so you can fill it out." He shrugged and averted his eyes. He /had/ just thought of something.

It must have been obvious because Heero elbowed him: "What?"

"You know, you were in pretty bad shape just after the Barton thing. We all were, but you seemed to really be in a bad place… up there." He motioned to Heero's head. "I'm not saying she shouldn't have told you in all this time, but if the two of you would just stop trying to protect each other all the time, you wouldn't have these stupid misunderstandings."

He let Heero think it through and eventually his friend conceded the point. "Maybe. But that /is/ what I'm paid to do, you know."

He huffed a laugh for his friend's benefit, letting the obvious remain unspoken. "Come on, man. Let's get out of here."

This time, when he rose, Heero followed.

As they headed for the same door Relena had taken not ten minutes earlier, Duo threw an arm over Heero's shoulder. "So hot chocolate OK or you think that ice cream the cook's had stashed with fudge swirl and almonds and chunks of chocolate would be better?" He stopped suddenly and had to laugh at a stray little thought. "Hey, how the hell did you guys ever manage to get along without me?

Heero, remembering that Duo had been the reason they'd gone down this conversational path in the first place, smirked. "We never seemed to have had these problems before you arrived, Maxwell. And you know damned well Relena doesn't like almonds."

"Yeah, but if I have to watch the two of you mope like a couple of angst-ridden teenagers, I might as well get something out of it."

Their fading comments and laughter could barely be heard from where they'd been sitting moments before.

The End.


End file.
